<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>if you get eaten by hyugesoo</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26464036">if you get eaten</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyugesoo/pseuds/hyugesoo'>hyugesoo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>what is dark within him [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Katekyou Hitman Reborn!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>And I guess, Animal Abuse, Animal Death, BAMF Sawada Tsunayoshi, Body Horror, Codependency, Dark Sawada Tsunayoshi, Emotional Manipulation, Everyone Loves Sawada Tsunayoshi, Flame Lore (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Flame Sealing (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Gore, In a way, Mental Instability, Non-Graphic Violence, Smart Sawada Tsunayoshi, Unconventional Uses for Dying Will Flames, Unhealthy Relationships, also, but mostly tsuna, flames fuck everyone up, sorry forgot to tag that</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:13:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,306</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26464036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyugesoo/pseuds/hyugesoo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tsuna was normal, once. Then he was sealed, and something else awoke in him.</p><p>Or, there are consequences to sealing a sky child's flame. Instead of becoming clumsy and no-good, Tsuna becomes something... more.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Reborn &amp; Sawada Tsunayoshi, Sawada Tsunayoshi &amp; Vongola Tenth Generation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>what is dark within him [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>707</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>if you get eaten</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>If you want to get in the right sort of mood reading this, maybe listen to Gnossienne No.1 by Erik Satie. That's what I was listening to while making this. Cheers!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> <strong>V.</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>There is something wrong with Sawada Tsunayoshi.</p><p> </p><p>That's the first thing that Reborn notices when the door opens and he is met with a silky smooth smile and warm chocolate eyes that threaten to drown him. The hair rises on the back of his neck, but he is nothing if professional, so he carefully files away the unease he feels when looking at the last Vongola heir and does his spiel of turning the boy into a mafia boss.</p><p> </p><p>And when the only reaction he garners is a smile as mild as rotten milk, he curses inwardly at the interest flashing in the boy's eyes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>I.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He wasn't always like this, Tsuna thinks. Once, he was a child, and he was an innocent. Once, he cared about people, smiled at animals, and loved his mother and friends.</p><p> </p><p>Then his father and that man visited, and he woke up cold and uncaring.</p><p> </p><p>Children are cruel, people whisper, waving away his little tendencies and overlooking the twisted smile he gets sometimes. It's normal, they don't know any better, all the adults say. They look at him and see his fluffy hair and soft cheeks and remember the Sawada Tsunayoshi from <em>before</em>. They see the child he was- innocent, sweet, kind Tsuna- and not the being that awoke after he was sealed.</p><p> </p><p>Namimori, after all, has always been good at looking the other way when unnatural things happen.</p><p> </p><p>After that man touched his forehead with fire, Tsuna realized just how boring and drab life had become. Colors turned into grey and people turned into dolls. Sounds and words felt far away, felt like a radio submerged in water. Everything was muffled; Tsuna saw the world and lost interest.</p><p> </p><p>He saw the kids that he called friends laugh and squeal in the playground, saw his mother flutter about in a too-large and too-empty home, saw the clouds drift uncaringly in a too-dull sky. He saw it all, and felt nothing. The people around him felt thin and papery, too breakable and too uninteresting. He looked at his friends and his mother and thought, <em> you could die now, and I wouldn’t care. I could kill you right now, break you and take your life in my hands, and I won’t feel a thing. </em></p><p> </p><p>The days became monotonous, dragging on and on, until the time when his mother accidentally cut herself on a knife.</p><p> </p><p>He had looked up from the kitchen table at her gasp, and saw <em>red</em>. Red red red, and suddenly the world wasn't grey anymore. Suddenly, he could feel the rush of blood through his veins, suddenly he could hear the pounding of his heartbeat, and suddenly he could <em>feel </em>again, was <em>alive </em>again.</p><p> </p><p>"Mama, what's that?" he had asked, nearly vibrating in excitement.</p><p> </p><p>"Mama cut herself, Tsu-kun, and now she's bleeding," his mother had replied, before going on and on to reassure him that she'll be fine, that it wasn't even a deep cut. He had tuned her words out; he didn't care if she was fine or not. He was too busy staring at the red dripping down her fingers, at the glint of metal dulled by red.</p><p> </p><p>Blood, he thinks, has to be the most beautiful thing in the world, and Tsuna falls in love.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the world seemed less dull, and the colors had returned. Suddenly, he started smiling again, cheerful and friendly as he had been before. His friends greeted him with a smile and welcomed him back with open arms.</p><p> </p><p>And when he "accidentally" wounds them during their games, when he takes to carrying sharp needles and blades in his pockets to carelessly brush against their skin, his smile stays steady and his friends stay silent.</p><p> </p><p>They only complained to their parents once, only to be turned away by their parents when Tsuna had smiled angelically at them all.</p><p> </p><p>He made sure to talk to them after.</p><p> </p><p>"We're friends, right?" he asks, twirling a needle expertly around his knuckles.</p><p> </p><p>His friends pout, rubbing their arms and wincing at the small cuts there. Their sweet childish scent is tarred by rust, and Tsuna brings them closer to nuzzle his face against their wounds.</p><p> </p><p>"It hurts, Tsu-kun," they whimper, eyes tearing up. A shudder rushes through him at the sight, and his throat feels dry and wanting. And oh, how he wants.</p><p> </p><p>"But you're mine," he answers, petting their hair and kissing their cheeks. "And you want me happy right? So do this for me, and we'll be friends forever," he promises idly, pulling back to stroke their throats.</p><p> </p><p>And let it never be said that children are stupid, because his friends look at him and feel the hand on their necks, their flimsy, breakable necks, and agree.</p><p> </p><p>They never go against him after that.</p><p> </p><p>Because the times that they disappoint them, the times that they are too slow to offer their skin to him, that is when they feel terrified beyond words, feel so cold that they're scared they'll never be warm again. When Tsuna doesn't smile at them, they realize that his indifference is a lot more painful than the cuts on their skin.</p><p> </p><p>And because they are all children, resilient and adaptable, after a while, they even start to look forward to his tender affections. They even start to anticipate the flick of his wrist that makes blood rain down on their soft skin just so that he looks at them like he loves them. They fall all over themselves to please him, to make Tsuna smile and touch them with care.</p><p> </p><p>They learn quickly not to irritate him, to keep him engaged, and willingly raise their sleeves and bare their thighs and forearms for his blades.</p><p> </p><p>"Such good friends," he would tell them, would murmur it in their ears, and they would look up to him with cheeks flushed and tears in their eyes.</p><p> </p><p>And the adults never realize, and the children themselves are too young to know any better, and this, too, becomes something of Namimori.</p><p> </p><p>Sawada Tsunayoshi slashes at the children he calls friends, laughs as he makes them bleed, and no one sees anything wrong.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>II.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Of course, small cuts that could be dismissed as results of rough play were just that. Small. As he grew, as he made more friends that he took care to bound to him in twisted affection, the saturation of the world slowly slid back to that grey hell.</p><p> </p><p>Boredom filled him, even as his smile melted the hearts of his classmates and teachers, even as his friends took to happily bringing colorful band-aids and cute plasters to decorate the marks of his "love" for them like badges of honor.</p><p> </p><p>Cutting people wasn't enough anymore, he realizes one day when he is methodically dragging his blade through the flesh of his friend. He wrenches the blade away with a huff, his ever-present smile fading while his friend pants and grips his shirt in confusion.</p><p> </p><p>"What's wrong, Tsu-kun? Why did you stop? Did I do something wrong?" his friend whispers, tears already dripping down his face. Even the sight of that clear liquid running down his cheeks, and the red liquid trickling down his legs does not lift his spirits.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna shrugs off the hand clutching his shirt and smooths the fabric down, irritation making his movement stiff. "I'm bored," he says, before pocketing his blade and turning to leave the other boy sobbing on the floor.</p><p> </p><p>"P-please, Tsu-kun, I, I'm so-sorry I'll do better, don't go, p-please," the other boy whimpers, begging and reaching out for him.</p><p> </p><p>He stops then, peering at the other boy broken and bleeding, crying pretty tears just for him. </p><p> </p><p>It is so very predictable, so very <em>boring</em>. And if there is one thing that Tsuna will never stand for, never again, it is his life turning dull.</p><p> </p><p>A sigh leaves his lips, displeased. "Go home, I'll find something else to entertain me," he tells the other boy carelessly, and leaves.</p><p> </p><p>And maybe Tsuna is blessed by the gods, because find something he does. On his way home, he catches sight of a cat, and before he knows it, his hand lashes out, the neck of the animal is snapped, and a breath rushes out of him giddily.</p><p> </p><p>He stares at the dead animal, feels the broken bones, smells the start of rust and decay, and smiles. Just like how his world shifted after his mother bled for him, the world is made new once more. All is right in his eyes again, his irritation fading like it was never there, and he walks home with a skip in his step.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>III.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He spends his years growing and smiling, a picture-perfect angel that his peers looked at in admiration. The adults all around him praise him, praise his grades and praise his mother for raising such a well-mannered and handsome boy, and he says all the right things at the right time. He grows and manipulates, fashioning his words like caresses with hidden edges, and he casts his web time and time again.</p><p> </p><p>People flock around him for his kind and insightful words and gentle smiles, and he becomes used to eyes following his form in adoration. Angel Tsuna, they call him, and he laughs while fingering the blades in his pockets.</p><p> </p><p>It is somewhat of a bother, of course. With so many eyes on him, it is a challenge to find time and space to attend to his... <em> hobbies</em>. But with even more friends clamoring for his attention, his skin prickles pleasurably at the thought of so many people begging for him to carve his touch and his blades into.</p><p> </p><p>He makes sure to kiss them all, to rub their chins and throats, and to drag his nails down their skin to reward them for their devotion.</p><p> </p><p>By the time he finishes primary, the entire school knows of the pretty, kind, and cheerful Sawada Tsunayoshi. The adults laugh and tease him, calling him terms like "popular" and "model student". He wears those titles like a crown, but nothing makes him feel more than a god than the glazed, adoring looks his friends give him as he cuts them open and drinks in the red, red blood that spills from their veins.</p><p> </p><p>And when he snaps their bones and drains them of blood until they sway and pale, toeing the line between life and death, Tsuna has never felt more alive.</p><p> </p><p>No one notices that the animal count in Namimori drops dangerously, and the trail of snapped necks of the remaining animals are overlooked. Just like how Tsuna's friends are often in the hospital, with their arms and legs in casts, with bandages wrapped around their fragile skin, Namimori looks the other way. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>IV.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>On the eve of his graduation from primary, he comes across a man slumped in an alley in one of the rougher districts of Namimori. The man looks scruffy, old, and smells of cheap booze as he snores unconcernedly.</p><p> </p><p>He remembers the feel of broken bones in his hand, remembers the way the breath of the animals he had killed had stopped, remembers the overwhelming happiness and warmth that filled him as they died due to his hands.</p><p> </p><p>How different would it be to kill a human instead of an animal, he wonders. Tsuna feels his heart race, and he looks around and sees no one in sight.</p><p> </p><p>What a perfect graduation gift, he sighs happily, and already the colors of the world around him are turning brighter and brighter until it takes all he can to keep his eyes from closing in glee.</p><p> </p><p>After all, he wants to see this, wants to watch the blood stain the man's skin and clothes, wants to watch the pallor on the man's face shine.</p><p> </p><p>"Thank you for your sacrifice," he murmurs politely, smiling gently, and slices through the man's neck.</p><p> </p><p>He spends an hour watching the blood bubble and spurt through the open wound, and it is the happiest hour of his life yet.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>VI.</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Reborn follows the boy to school, his intuition ringing with his hands itching to grab his gun and put a bullet in the boy's head. Sawada Tsunayoshi feels rotten to the core, even as he smiles and talks politely. By all accounts, and from the reports he had received from Iemitsu, Tsuna is a kind, civilian boy with a wide range of friends. Reborn had slogged through the man's tearful and proud comments of how Tsuna had such a great heart and helped people whenever he can, how smart and eager the boy is to learn.</p><p> </p><p>But reports can be fooled, appearances can be changed, and masks can be donned. He spends the rest of the day tailing the boy, watching over his every move. He eyes the perpetual smile on the boy's face and frowns at the dazed looks the boy receives from his so-called friends. Some of his friends are in casts, and others move with a sluggishness that bespoke of wounds covered by their uniform.</p><p> </p><p>Already, there is a sinking feeling in Reborn's stomach as a suspicion forms.</p><p> </p><p>A soul cannot be sealed completely, not really. Sealing a soul means to dull the human, means to starve them of their senses, and sentence them to a slow, painful death.</p><p> </p><p>Timoteo had confessed to Reborn, a sinner to a sinner, that he had seen the young Tsuna wield his flames with childish abandon. He had seen the potential in the boy descended directly from Primo, seen the lines of the child’s face that would grow to imitate his ancestor. Timoteo had seen, and like any leader with a throne built on blood, had feared. And with a decision he regrets mightily now that his three heirs are dead and buried, and his adopted son chained in ice, Timoteo had sealed the boy’s flames.</p><p> </p><p>But there is something important in that wording after all. The Dying Will Flames have always been said to be the physical manifestation of the soul, but as Reborn watches the sealed boy, he thinks that that’s not quite right. There is a reason why the flames only activate after a near-death experience; the flames aren’t of the soul, but of <em>resolve</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Timoteo had sealed not the soul of Tsunayoshi; he sealed the part of the boy’s resolve to live, to enjoy life, to breathe and see the colors in the world. For Reborn, who deals in death and endings, he thinks that that is the worst punishment imaginable. He had come to Namimori, dreading to meet the boy sealed away from his will. He had come, expecting to see a broken shell, a half-lived life with despair and pointless abandon wrapped around each of Tsunayoshi’s limbs like a shackle.</p><p> </p><p>Reborn did not see those things. On the surface, he sees a well-adjusted teen, with a bright smile and an insistent pull that should be impossible that drew people to him in droves.</p><p> </p><p>Sawada Tsunayoshi smiles like an angel, and by all accounts, is an angel. If Reborn was half the hitman that he was, he might have been fooled by the boy's gentle nature.</p><p> </p><p>But, as he watches the boy laugh and stroke one of his friend's bandaged arm, Reborn knows that the boy isn't as innocent as he seems.</p><p> </p><p>No one that innocent smells like he bathed in blood.</p><p> </p><p>The seal is still there, of course. That is the first thing he had checked when the boy had smiled at him, and even as the hours pass, he keeps concentrating and brushing his flames against the seal to make sure.</p><p> </p><p>Because the boy is so different from his expectations. He acts as if nothing weighs him down, like he isn’t broken and aching and riddled with holes.</p><p> </p><p>Reborn looks at that smile and those eyes that flicker in the right light and look <em>orange</em>, and feels the first tendrils of ice down his spine.</p><p> </p><p>He doesn’t know what the boy has done to keep himself sane, to keep himself alive. He doesn’t know what puts that flush on his cheeks, what makes his laughter ring true and false, like a piano that is half a key discordant.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> What has the boy sacrificed to keep himself breathing and existing? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Reborn is many things, but a liar to himself he is not. And as he watches the way Sawada Tsunayoshi moves through life, like a puppet or a doll that is just this shade of unnatural, just this shade of eerie beauty, he admits that he is scared to find out.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>VII.</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The boy is good though, Reborn has to admit grudgingly. Sawada Tsunayoshi- <em> call me Tsuna, Reborn-sensei! </em>- does not slip. His mask of innocence and sweetness stays on, even when Reborn shoots at him and throws the boy into frustrating exercises. He tries to tire the boy, to irritate him, but Tsuna merely smiles and giggles, following his instructions and completing whatever task Reborn sets him on.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna is unfailingly polite and eager, but Reborn never feels at ease next to him. He sleeps with one eye half-open, and when he realizes he unconsciously never shows his back to Tsuna, he ends up laughing.</p><p> </p><p>His instincts rank Tsuna, Angel of Namimori, as a threat.</p><p> </p><p>One day, when Tsuna is absently twirling his pen between his fingers as he goes over his homework, the pen flowing and glinting under the light almost like a knife, Reborn has a passing thought and wonders how many people Tsuna has killed.</p><p> </p><p>That, more than anything, jolts him out of his mindset of seeing Tsuna as a civilian with sealed flames.</p><p> </p><p>It frustrates him to no end because Reborn knows all about disguises and lies. He is the World's Greatest Hitman, and still, Tsuna hides from his gaze. So he calls in reinforcements.</p><p> </p><p>But when Gokudera Hayato whips out his bombs, Reborn hesitates. He has yet to shoot Tsuna with the Dying Will bullet, and even now, his instincts scream at him not to. While he is debating, Tsuna has already reached into the other boy's guard and is admiring the bombs Gokudera is clutching.</p><p> </p><p>"Amazing," he hears Tsuna, and a chill races down his spine. Tsuna's eyes are molten orange, shimmering with fascination as he looks at the other boy like Gokudera is a toy.</p><p> </p><p>Inhuman, Reborn thinks.</p><p> </p><p>"Neh, Reborn-sensei," Tsuna calls up to him, excitement clear in his tone, "do I have to kill him or can I keep him?"</p><p> </p><p>Gokudera's hands are still clutched tightly in Tsuna's grip, even as Gokudera spits and snarls and tries to lob more bombs at Tsuna's face.</p><p> </p><p>The snap of bones echoes in the courtyard, even as Gokudera swears and cries out in pain. From Reborn's angle, he can see how Tsuna's smile never wavered even as he cruelly and expertly broke the other boy's wrist, and how easily he had done so. </p><p> </p><p>That spoke of experience.</p><p> </p><p>He has no further time to observe the expression on Tsuna's face because Gokudera loses his grip on his bombs and Reborn has to reach for his gun to shoot Tsuna, instincts be damned. The boy, no matter how unsettling, can't possibly survive that.</p><p> </p><p>But the Dying Will bullet hits no one, and his eyes widen as Tsuna evades the shot and rolls him and Gokudera away from the explosion. Giggling, Tsuna looks down at Gokudera from where he's sprawled on top of the other boy's chest, and just like that, he gains a loyal subordinate.</p><p> </p><p>Later, Reborn thinks back on the childish excitement on Tsuna's face as he looked at Gokudera. He mulls over the boy's phrasing, the way Tsuna said, <em> "can I keep him?"</em>, like Gokudera wasn't human, like he was an animal or a <em> thing</em>. He remembers that flash of orange in chocolate eyes, something that should be impossible after sealing his flames.</p><p> </p><p>He twists in his hammock, eyeing the peaceful expression on Tsuna's face under the sliver of moonlight in the dark of his room, and frowns.</p><p> </p><p>What a frustrating assignment, Reborn thinks. How terrifying, that a seal placed by the Don of the strongest famiglia is not strong enough to hold back the flames of a child.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>VIII.</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>When Tsuna enters the classroom the next day, with Gokudera watching him admiringly and with both of his hands in casts, the dynamic changes.</p><p> </p><p>The entire class, which had been frosty and unwelcoming to Gokudera the day before, now smiles at him and includes him in their conversation. Reborn can see how confused Gokudera is, and how flustered he becomes at the positive attention. All the while, Tsuna watches over them all from his desk, his legs crossed and his hand bracing his chin. The smile on his face is gentle and benevolent, but all Reborn can think of is how Tsuna looks at his peers like they aren't human to him. </p><p> </p><p>Reborn corners Tsuna when the boy goes to the restroom, tugging his fedora down to shadow his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>"What was that, Tsuna?" he asks, hopping up to stand on the sink next to the boy.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna blinks, eyes disinterested and bored, before he smiles and his brown eyes warm.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, you mean Hayato being accepted by the class?" He giggles, and flicks his fingers carelessly to get rid of the water droplets. "The class now knows that Hayato is my friend, and everyone knows to be good to my friends," he says, answering nothing and everything with that confusing statement.</p><p> </p><p>Reborn remembers how Tsuna's "friends" crowded around the boy, remembers the desperation in their gazes as they tried to press even closer to Tsuna. But most of all, he remembers the broken bones of Tsuna's friends, the bandages they wore with pride, and the easy, mildly possessive way Tsuna trailed his fingers over their injuries.</p><p> </p><p>"Because you hurt him, just like you hurt your friends," Reborn says before he can think, and he almost bites his lip as he curses inwardly at the slip of his tongue.</p><p> </p><p>Brown eyes flash orange, and Tsuna meets his eyes through their reflection before laughing. The laugh grates on Reborn's ears, even as it fills the empty restroom like bells.</p><p> </p><p>With a hair-raising screech of metal, Tsuna twists the sink faucet close and shrugs, smiling. "I don't hurt my friends, Reborn-sensei. I love them all, and I just show them how much I do!"</p><p> </p><p>And with that parting sentence, the boy turns away and leaves.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>IX.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Tap. tap. tap.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna returns to the classroom, waving away his friends, before resting his chin against his palm and tapping his other hand's finger against his desk.</p><p> </p><p>The not-baby tutor of his had accused him of hurting his friends, and breaking their bones and bleeding them dry.</p><p> </p><p>Tap. tap. <em>tap</em>.</p><p> </p><p>With a shift of his head, he casts his gaze over his friends, his eyes lingering over their casts and splints and wounds. He looks at his newest friend last, the Gokudera boy. He had saved the other from his own bombs on a whim; even now, the only thing he feels for the boy is fascination.</p><p> </p><p>With the boy's silver pale hair, eyes as green as grass, exotic features, and oh, that wonderful smell of smoke and ash and destruction-</p><p> </p><p>Yes, Tsuna really is fascinated.</p><p> </p><p>A real smile spreads his lips, warming his entire body as he remembers the twist in Hayato's face as he broke his wrists like they were paper thin.</p><p> </p><p>Reborn doesn't understand, because he isn't of Namimori. Tsuna isn't doing anything wrong- he is just filling up the monotony of life with the color red and the gasps and tears of pain. And his friends always enjoy it as well, so really, Reborn is overreacting.</p><p> </p><p>And if they don’t… well, Tsuna has always been persuasive.</p><p> </p><p>Grinning, Tsuna flicks a heated look at Hayato, and sees those pretty green eyes already looking straight at him. When their eyes meet, that delicate face flushes, turning pink, and Tsuna has to stop himself from reaching out and running his blades down that aristocratic cheekbone.</p><p> </p><p>There is a time and place for everything, he reminds himself, and he winks at the boy for good measure.</p><p> </p><p>When lunch comes, Tsuna stands and makes his way to his newest friend. He wants to see that pretty blush again, wants to see how far it goes, if it reaches his neck and chest. And more than anything, he wants to stain Hayato's ash skin with red.</p><p> </p><p>Sighing happily, Tsuna smiles. "Wanna eat lunch with me?"</p><p> </p><p>Green eyes widening, "J-juudaime! I'd be honored!"</p><p> </p><p>From the corner of his eyes, he can see some of his friends shifting, and he shifts to lean his hip against Hayato's desk. Turning his head, he smiles at them, and observes them for the least injured.</p><p> </p><p>"Ah, Takeshi, do you wanna join us?"</p><p> </p><p>Groans fill the classroom, as his other friends all whine and plead to join him for lunch while Takeshi perks up, eyes flashing. The boy sticks his tongue out at a few of the more vocal classmates as he makes his way to the duo.</p><p> </p><p>"Sure Tsuna! I'd love to," he laughs, eyes already glazed and a blush warming his ears.</p><p> </p><p>Giggling, Tsuna loops an arm around Hayato and Takeshi, before nodding at the rest of his friends.</p><p> </p><p>"I'll eat lunch with you all next time," he promises, running his tongue over his sharp teeth, "I just have to welcome Hayato here to Namimori!"</p><p> </p><p>His friends watch him, watch his smile, and agree.</p><p> </p><p>(They will always agree, Tsuna thinks, and feels greed and pleasure swirling in his veins.)</p><p> </p><p>Beside him, Takeshi laughs that fake, brittle laugh of his, and Tsuna blinks at him as they make their way to one of the empty classrooms.</p><p> </p><p>Upon closer inspection, Takeshi looks pale, with dark circles under his eyes and his lips bitten. He looks almost as bad as he had when Tsuna first found him, reeling from the death of his mother and searching for stability. Takeshi didn't know what was up and what was down, and he didn't know who he was when his world had changed so drastically.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna had taken him apart, piece by piece, naming and renaming every vein, every muscle, every bone with gentle kisses and sweeping cuts. Takeshi had lost his purpose; Tsuna had melted him down to scraps and reforged him into perfection.</p><p> </p><p>Of course, Tsuna can't always be there for the boy. Ever since the not-baby tutor had arrived, he didn't have the time and had to stop showering his friends with affection. At first, he thought of it as a game, playing innocent and civilian. That is what Reborn had expected from him after all, so he merely smiled at his tutor and enjoyed the flashes of irritation in his baby black eyes. Reborn, after all, isn't of Namimori and wouldn’t understand. Their conversation in the restroom had proved that.</p><p> </p><p>But he has Takeshi clinging desperately to his arm now, like a dying believer praying for a god to heal him, to save him, to deliver him, and Tsuna finds that he doesn't really care anymore for what his tutor might think of this.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna, after all, really does love his friends. His oh so beautiful friends that offer themselves up to him like the freshest fruit and juiciest meat, begging for Tsuna to let their blood drip from their bodies and drench his fingers like holy water.</p><p> </p><p>It has been years since that man touched his forehead with a kiss of fire and made everything cold and grey, but Tsuna will never forget those long days that felt like an eternity of monochrome. He will never forget the way the world around him felt, deprived of color and life, until he saw his mother bleeding with her skin broken.</p><p> </p><p>He will forever hold his mother and his friends that smile when he breaks them and bleeds them close to his heart. They are the reason he is alive, after all, and just like how he eats happily and drinks happily, he too will enjoy this hunger.</p><p> </p><p>A human needs food and water to survive, and Tsuna needs people to bleed and die for him. And while he won’t necessarily kill his friends and his mother since there are countless more worthless people in the world for him to kill, he looks at them and feels a great, unending <em>want </em>to make them bleed and cry.</p><p> </p><p>And so with a smile, Tsuna gently pushes Takeshi and Hayato inside the empty classroom, before turning and locking the door. When he turns to face them, Hayato is looking over the room with bright eyes while Takeshi is already loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves with single-minded determination.</p><p> </p><p>Ah, but who is Tsuna to refuse such a delicious offer?</p><p> </p><p>Smoothly, Tsuna pushes Takeshi down to sit on the floor. There is a wealth of emotions in Takeshi's face now, so much better than that fake laughter that he does whenever Tsuna forgets about him for far too long. Stifling his giggles, Tsuna smiles instead and runs his fingers through soft, black hair.</p><p> </p><p>A whine escapes Takeshi's chest, and the naked pleading on his face makes Tsuna sigh.</p><p> </p><p>"I've ignored you for far too long, haven't I?" he says regretfully, slipping his fingers down to grip Takeshi's chin. "How forgetful of me, right Takeshi?"</p><p> </p><p>"P-please, Tsuna, I need-"</p><p> </p><p>Irritated at the interruption, Tsuna delivers a slap to Takeshi's cheek with his other hand. Immediately afterward, his exasperation fades and he leans down to plant a gentle kiss on the already red cheek.</p><p> </p><p>"I know, Takeshi, but aren't you forgetting something? You're so eager for me, already baring yourself, but look," he says, jerking Takeshi's face in the room's other occupant. Hayato is staring at them both with a slack jaw, a blush high on his cheeks as he takes in their position. Takeshi, kneeling and begging for Tsuna, and Tsuna with his grip on Takeshi's face and a wolfish grin on his. "We're not alone, Takeshi. Do you really not mind having someone see you like this?"</p><p> </p><p>Takeshi is already shaking his head, eyes glassy, but he waits until Tsuna nods before he speaks. "Tsuna, please, I don't care if he sees. Please," he whispers, fingers gripping the fabric of his uniform instead of reaching out to touch Tsuna.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna smiles happily at that; his friends learned very quickly not to touch him without permission.</p><p> </p><p>A shudder goes through Takeshi at the sight of his smile, and he groans lightly. With his dark eyes flashing, a ghost of a grin spreads his lips. "Besides, aren't I here for a demonstration? You want to bring Gokudera into Namimori, right? And he needs to know about this if he's to be your friend."</p><p> </p><p>A laugh bursts out of Tsuna, and he bends down to brush his lips again across Takeshi's forehead. While he hates being interrupted, hates when his friends think that they can take liberties with him and talk to him like they are the same, like they are <em>equal</em>, Tsuna does so enjoy the occasional little snarks and retorts from Takeshi. </p><p> </p><p>Takeshi is, essentially, one of his favorites, and that gives him a bit of leeway more than the others. Takeshi is the only one that would die if Tsuna abandoned him, after all, out of all of his friends. The boy has no other purpose in life. And while Tsuna preferred to bestow death than life, it fills him with such a heady feeling to see Takeshi place his life in his hands time and time again.</p><p> </p><p>“Such a smart boy," he praises, before shooting a look at his newest friend.</p><p> </p><p>"Hayato, won't you come closer? This demonstration, as Takeshi said, is also for you," he giggles, and when Hayato stumbles closer, he turns back and sinks to his knees in front of Takeshi.</p><p> </p><p>The other boy is watching him, eyes as bright as the ocean during midday. Idly, Tsuna reads every emotion that flickers through his face, and pats Takeshi's arm at the overwhelming devotion written on his face.</p><p> </p><p>"Such a good friend," he murmurs, and adjusts his grip on Takeshi's arm before snapping the ulna and radius in one smooth motion. A strangled scream leaves Takeshi, and he slumps over, panting at the pain.</p><p> </p><p>Shivering, Tsuna swoops closer to lick the screams away from his mouth, and Takeshi moans, eyes half-lidded as he watches Tsuna's ecstatic face. After Tsuna pulls away, he guides Takeshi's head to rest on his shoulder, and runs gentle fingers down Takeshi's back.</p><p> </p><p>Delirious, Takeshi mumbles against his neck, "Did I do good Tsuna? Did you like it?"</p><p> </p><p>Laughter fills the room, and Tsuna drops a kiss on Takeshi's sweaty hair.</p><p> </p><p>"You did so well," he praises, "such a good boy, such a good friend."</p><p> </p><p>Their emotions are a feedback of each other's, a loop of pain and pleasure and yes, <em> more more more</em>. In the lines of Takeshi's face, the desperation from being overlooked, from being unseen and forgotten have faded, and even as his face turns clammy and his body trembles from the hurt in his arm, he is wearing a teary smile filled with so much devotion.</p><p> </p><p>"Ah, you really are one of my best friends," Tsuna whispers, running feather-light touches down Takeshi's broken arm. Looking down, he notices that it's one of his best breaks yet; already, the skin around the break is turning mottled black and blue, and in one part the bone is jutting out as if trying to escape Takeshi's skin.</p><p> </p><p>A wrangled gasp breaks his inspection, and he looks up to see Hayato watching them with so much confusion. Curiously, there is no fear, and Tsuna is hard-pressed not to laugh at that. Of course, being in the mafia, Hayato won't think twice of violence.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna had been slightly worried about his future, wondering what job he needed to take in order to keep breaking and killing people. He hadn't even considered stopping; <em> this</em>, he thinks as he presses down on Takeshi's bruised arm and listening to his stifled moans, <em> is the only reason he is alive</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Then Reborn and Hayato came into his life, and look, what a convenient blood throne awaits.</p><p> </p><p>Giggling, he nudges Takeshi to curl up around him even closer, before reaching out to Hayato. Without even the slightest hesitation, Hayato takes his hand even as his cast restricts his movements.</p><p> </p><p>"Do you love me?" he questions, and watches that delicious blush spread.</p><p> </p><p>"Y-yes, Juudaime! My life is yours!" he exclaims, and Tsuna squeezes his fingers before letting go.</p><p> </p><p>"Even if I break your bones, and cut you open?" he questions, tilting his head to rest his cheek against Takeshi's hair. He waits for Hayato to blink, before gesturing to Takeshi's arm. "See, this is how all my friends are. They come to me and ask me to break them, to cut them, and I do because I love all my friends and I want them happy. And they come to me, because I like breaking them and cutting them, so it's a win-win."</p><p> </p><p>With a gentle smile, Tsuna nudges Takeshi's chin up to press a kitten soft kiss on his lips. "They're mine," he tells Hayato, and pulls back to observe the boy. "And since you're mine now, I have to break you and put you back together again. That's the only way you can stay with me forever, you see," he says, expertly placing a touch of regret in the lilt of his voice.</p><p> </p><p>And just like he expected, Hayato kneels and places his head on the floor, bowing.</p><p> </p><p>"Of course, Juudaime, you can do whatever you want with me!" he vows seriously, and Tsuna grins.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>X.</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>In the rafters, with a frown on his childish face, Reborn watches the Vongola heir manipulate and destroy his "friends" at his satisfaction.</p><p> </p><p>He had been uneasy and wondered how Tsuna had kept himself alive, kept himself breathing. Now that he knows, now that his suspicions are confirmed, Reborn thinks it would have been better to remain ignorant.</p><p> </p><p>He watches the flush of ecstasy on Tsuna's face as he breaks that Yamamoto boy's arm, watches the sheer obsession in Yamamoto's face, and remembers the devoted way Tsuna's classmates looked at him.</p><p> </p><p>Tsuna had said he loved his friends, said that he did this for himself and for them, and Reborn massages his temples in exhaustion. Every single word he said rang with honest conviction.</p><p> </p><p>The seal is years old, spanning almost a decade and curling around the seemingly fragile shoulders of a civilian boy. Anyone with a weaker will would have died within months of its placing, or a year if they were particularly stubborn. Instead, Tsuna lived longer than anyone expected by filling his life with violence and blood, with manipulations and lies that were so twisted that even Tsuna himself believed them to be the truth.</p><p> </p><p>How terrifying, Reborn thinks. He's old, and has seen more blood spilled than anyone alive. But this is something else entirely.</p><p> </p><p>Now he realizes why he felt so on edge in the Sawada home, in the halls of Namimori Middle School, and, to a lesser degree, the rest of the town. Sky flames, the same ones that have been bursting out under the seams of Tsuna’s skin, saturate everything and everyone he touches, sickly and cloying and <em>needy. </em>No wonder his classmates look at him dazedly and offer themselves up to him like sacrifices for a vengeful god. He’s never really seen civilians flame-drunk before, but now he’s got an entire town’s worth.</p><p> </p><p>What a mess.</p><p> </p><p>A budding psychopath lives in Namimori, and wears the title of Angel. And as the last Vongola heir, Reborn wonders how quickly the rivers and streets will run red once he wears the crown.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So-</p><p>Mostly I've seen fics where sealing tsuna left him clumsy and all, but I don't think I've seen one where something else is wrong with him haha. So idk where tf this all came from, but things are fucked up, basically. And, of course, horror and gore are my lifeblood. *awkward finger guns*</p><p>If anyone likes this, I'll maybe continue it, but so far, this is all I got. Till next time!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>